The Four Agreements of the Toltecs of Mexico

[shamanseeker]

The Toltec

THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, THE TOLTEC WERE known throughout
southern Mexico as “women and men of knowledge.” Anthropologists have
spoken of the Toltec as a nation or a race, but, in fact, the Toltec were scientists
and artists who formed a society to explore and conserve the spiritual
knowledge and practices of the ancient ones. They came together as masters
(naguals) and students at Teotihuacan, the ancient city of pyramids outside
Mexico City known as the place where “Man Becomes God.”
Over the millennia, the naguals were forced to conceal the ancestral wisdom
and maintain its existence in obscurity. European conquest, coupled with
rampant misuse of personal power by a few of the apprentices, made it
necessary to shield the knowledge from those who were not prepared to use it
wisely or who might intentionally misuse it for personal gain.
Fortunately, the esoteric Toltec knowledge was embodied and passed on
through generations by different lineages of naguals. Though it remained veiled
in secrecy for hundreds of years, ancient prophecies foretold the coming of an
age when it would be necessary to return the wisdom to the people. Now, don
Miguel Ruiz, a nagual from the Eagle Knight lineage, has been guided to share
with us the powerful teachings of the Toltec.
Toltec knowledge arises from the same essential unity of truth as all the
sacred esoteric traditions found around the world. Though it is not a religion, it
honors all the spiritual masters who have taught on the earth. While it does
embrace spirit, it is most accurately described as a way of life, distinguished
by the ready accessibility of happiness and love.

http://files.meetup.com/1252790/The%...-%20Yasser.pdf

[Chuckie]

Hi Shaman,

You're off to a good start...

NAP

[Dumpster Diver]

Any connection to Cory Goode's Mayan breakaway civilization?

[shamanseeker]

Hello NAP and Dumpster Diver,

Thanks for your comments. I have known a shaman for a year now who invites a psychologist who in my opinion is psychic periodically to carry out family constellations. His companion, who is also a psychologist, came to the last constellations and sent me this pdf. It has confirmed everything that the shaman was teaching me over the summer and as this psychologist says, this knowledge which is ancient wisdom starts to vibrate with the DNA in our cells and starts to change our lives. This is my experience at the moment and as the native americans say: when your life starts to fall apart, don't worry because this is making way for the positive energies to replace the negative ones. I do numerology and am noticing that a lot of people at the moment have a no. 1 as life path (they are leaders, humanitarians and visionaries), no.9 as a mission (these are also humanitarians and visionaries but also want to help the planet and humanity) and no.8 (the balance between the material and the spiritual). The 8s have the ability to draw the spiritual into the material world. I believe that these are the leaders of the future communities in the world. This is happening fast even if our political leaders do not want to give up yet and are still creating chaos in this world. However the people with these numbers (and others) are going (IMO) to build the kingdom of God (the creator, i.e.) on the Earth. There are no coincidences.

Dumpster Diver: I don't know about Cory Goode's Mayan Breakaway Civilisation but will look into it when I have time

[sandy]

Good to see you posting again Shamanseeker, I missed you. Thank you for the wonderful resource.

[DMt.]

There's a site called Sustained Reaction; it's run by a person, probably a male, who was a Castaneda devotee for about ten years and is now outraged, bigtime, at being conned, and wishes to warn the naive and curious.

I by no means agree with his new scientistic/reductionist viewpoint, but as a long-term attendee/devotee I think his observations deserve at least a listen.

The best places for informed critique of "Don Miguel Ruiz" would probably be sites where native elders of the relevant tribes comment on those who claim to represent their traditional wisdom.

[modwiz]

I have to admit, the Spanish title of 'don' seems out of place for an indigenous shaman. Whether Don Juan Matus or Don Miguel Ruiz, it feels 'off' to me. I will not throw babies out with bathwater though.

[shamanseeker]

Thanks DMt.

[shamanseeker]

Thanks modwiz,

I am certain that most of this is very positive. I've started the 5th Agreement and it explains how we need to be skeptical and go within ourselves to discover the truth because most of what we are told from the time of our birth is lies. which I shall do. The exlplanation they give to why the world is in chaos is also very convincing. I'm not sure about the explanation of Adam and Eve but it is certainly worth meditating on. It is certainly worth reading though and makes a lot of sense.

[shamanseeker]

Hi! I have looked for negative comments on the web regarding Don Miguel Ruiz and the only thing I've found that some may think is negative is imo positive. Apparently, what they say the Toltecs taught is precisely what modern-day psychologists teach today which is interesting!

The following is written by a psychologist. See https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog...our-agreements

"Marilyn Mitchell M.D. Marilyn Mitchell M.D.
Heart and Soul Healing
The Four Agreements
Finding one's own integrity, self-love, and peace
Posted Jan 25, 2013
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In his best-selling book The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz discusses some basic self-limiting beliefs that deprive us of joy and create unnecessary suffering. The book is based on ancient wisdom of the Toltecs – a group of people known throughout Southern Mexico as “women and men of knowledge”.

The Four Agreements proposes an insightful code of conduct that I believe can work to help us change our lives and experience freedom, happiness and love in many ways. An especially important aspect of the book is that when faced with stress, problems, and difficult situations, the way that we react is based on our attitudes, and ourselves, not anyone else. Ultimately, The Four Agreements is about finding one's own integrity, self-love, and peace by way of releasing oneself from responsibility for the woes of others.

Born into a family of healers, The Four Agreements author Don Miguel Ruiz was expected by his parents to embrace their legacy of healing and teaching. Ruiz instead made the decision to go to medical school and become a surgeon. After a brush with death changed his life, he experienced a newfound passion in exploring self-inquiry and dedicated his life to spreading the knowledge of the ancient Toltec.

In The Four Agreements, Ruiz encourages readers to abide by the following:

Be Impeccable with Your Word. Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.
Don't Take Anything Personally. Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.
Don't Make Assumptions. Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
Always Do Your Best. Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.
The book has been featured on the Oprah show, and sold over 4 million copies since its publication in 1997. I’ve found that people who have read and followed the Agreements find that they gain the capacity to be more compassionate and forgiving, and are able to progress towards a healthier mental state."

[Fred Steeves]

Hi! I have looked for negative comments on the web regarding Don Miguel Ruiz and the only thing I've found that some may think is negative is imo positive.

Can't say it came as a shock, but I found this inside of 30 seconds:
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/sust...uiz-t6311.html

P.S. For the sake of clarity. "The Four Agreements" was amongst the first spiritual books that I devoured off the book store shelf back in the day.

[shamanseeker]

It seems to me to be gossip. Maybe, it's true but has anyone studied the links on that forum to understand what seems on the surface to be gossip to be plausible. It seems to me that what is written in the four agreements is genuine. As for the people who spread this work, I don't know - but it seems to me that there a lot of people on forums who are paid to criticise and denigrate some very good information.

[modwiz]

Can't say it came as a shock, but I found this inside of 30 seconds:
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/sust...uiz-t6311.html

[Fred Steeves]

It seems to me to be gossip.

It could well be, hell if I know. I just took it as a fun little challenge when you said you couldn't find anything, so I quick typed in "don Miguel ruiz fraud", and up popped that short thread on the Castaneda forum.

Maybe, it's true but has anyone studied the links on that forum to understand what seems on the surface to be gossip to be plausible.

Nah, it's not that important to go on any serious fishing expedition on that one. Whatever may or may not be going on there, I just don't see him as the alphabet soup type we see so much in this neck of the woods. Those are the ones that concern me. I will say though that the more digging goes into guru types, the more it can be observed that when it gets down to it they are fallable people just like any of us. It's one thing to blab on and on about integrity and such, it's a much different deal to actually live it day to day.

It seems to me that what is written in the four agreements is genuine. As for the people who spread this work, I don't know - but it seems to me that there a lot of people on forums who are paid to criticise and denigrate some very good information.

And that leads straight to the main point I would like to make here. Good information is good information, regardless of how it winds up entering our awareness. It would be a tall task indeed to try and seriously debate the value of the information in "The Four Agreements", same with the Castaneda material. I personally think Castaneda turned out to be pretty much a con and a sleezebag, and I don't believe that the Nagual Don Juan even existed, but to this day I still highly value much of what I read from that as well. It's still very relevant to this very day. The whole being the warrior stalking yourself thing, all of that.

Here's another one I've heard some not so nice things about, the author of "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" Sogyal Rinpoche.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/the...MaAvpxEALw_wcB

Whatever his private life is really about, there's deeper spiritual truths and wisdom contained within than any book I've ever read. Talk about a highlighted mess on those pages, and it made me cry at times to boot. Both times I read it LOL!

[shamanseeker]

Thanks Steve for your wise words